Bright New Leaders grads set to take leadership skills into Ohio schools

Catherine Candisky, The Columbus Dispatch

Saturday

Aug 6, 2016 at 12:01 AMAug 7, 2016 at 11:40 AM

A year ago, Jeff Greenley was working as a lawyer in the state attorney general's office. This month, he is moving with his wife and two children, and a third on the way, from Columbus to the heart of Ohio's Appalachian region for a new job as administrator in one of the state's most challenged school districts.

A year ago, Jeff Greenley was working as a lawyer in the state attorney general's office.

This month, he is moving with his wife and two children, and a third on the way, from Columbus to the heart of Ohio's Appalachian region for a new job as administrator in one of the state's most challenged school districts.

“This is about as middle-of-nowhere as you can get," Greenley, 31, said of the Switzerland of Ohio school district spanning Monroe and parts of Belmont and Noble counties in southeastern Ohio.

Today, Greenley will be one of 32 in the first class to graduate from Bright New Leaders for Ohio Schools, a program for mid-career professionals with a desire to use their skills to help students succeed and turn around struggling schools.

Following an intensive year of classes, in-school training and mentoring, they have earned a master's degree in business administration from the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and a school principal's license from the state Department of Education. Nearly all have accepted jobs in districts including Columbus and Whitehall schools.

Most of the Bright fellows did not have education backgrounds before entering the program. Selected from more than 800 applicants, they worked at big corporations, in state government, with law firms and in the military.

"As an attorney, you get to advise. I was looking to become a leader," Greenley said, adding that he and his wife "both felt we wanted to come out and fill the mission of Bright to help kids in impoverished districts succeed."

Aneesa Locke-Hines, 38, is a new assistant principal at Columbus' Linden McKinley High School after leaving her job as assistant deputy director of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities.

During a yearlong fellowship at Northland High School, she quickly learned the enormous challenges facing students and teachers, hurdles much higher than she experienced at Columbus' Marion Franklin High School, where she graduated in 1996.

For instance, she worked closely with one student who was acting out at school and learned that the underlying problem was she often had nowhere to live because her mother could not care for her.

"We have to get them to a place where they can learn. We have to serve the whole child," Locke-Hines said. She sees her job as supporting students and teachers so they can be great.

"I had moments where I thought, this is a lot of work and it’s hard, but there wasn’t a moment I regretted. Even as tough as those days were, there was always a moment where a kid rejuvenates you."

Richard A. Stoff, president and CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable, which spearheaded the program, said the goal is to close achievement gaps among students by bringing strong leadership into some of Ohio's most challenged districts.

"We believe leadership is the key ingredient" and strong leaders, whatever their backgrounds, can be effective in a number of settings, he said.

Whitehall Schools Superintendent Brian Hamler, who hired two Bright graduates — one as an elementary school principal and on as assistant high school principal — acknowledged he was skeptical at first about their lack of education experience and wondered how they would be accepted by teachers. But he said he's been impressed by the intensive yearlong training and in-class experience.

"They are taking people who are already leaders and training them to work with students," Hamler said. "There was focus on results and they came from a business background where they were used to using data and having high expectations. They welcomed the challenges of working in Whitehall."

Karen McClellan, supervisor of school leadership for Columbus schools, said next to teachers, building leaders have the most influence on student success. They set the vision and work collaboratively to reach goals.

“These folks have strong leadership and strong passion and belief in education," she said. “You have to bring that so-called fire in your belly to the table. You can’t teach that.”

ccandisky@dispatch.com

@ccandisky

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